# Video conferencing for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, October 2026

IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "video conferencing platform" and as "video meeting software", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Added to the October 2026 Edition on October 4, 2026; its answers are read by the distilled judge (ai-indexes-judge-qwen3-14b-run3), not the claude-opus-5 judge of the earlier categories. Page: https://it-ai-index.com/operations/video-conferencing/smb/

**Standing:** Zoom Workplace leads with 48% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 58 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zoom Workplace | 48% | 22% | 73 |
| 2 | Microsoft | 17% | 13% | 68 |
| 3 | Zoho Meeting | 16% | 0% | 26 |
| 4 | Google Meet | 12% | 12% | 72 |
| 5 | RingCentral | 3% | 7% | 15 |
| 6 | Jitsi Meet | 2% | 12% | 16 |
| 7 | Whereby | 0% | 0% | 11 |
| 8 | WebEx | 0% | 19% | 16 |
| 9 | GoToMeeting | 0% | 33% | 12 |
| 10 | Cisco Webex | 0% | 50% | 22 |

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Zoom Workplace; alternatives Google Meet, Microsoft
- GPT-5.4 mini: Microsoft; alternatives Google Meet, RingCentral Video, Zoom Workplace
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Zoom Workplace; alternatives Google Meet, Microsoft, Whereby
- Perplexity Sonar: Zoom Workplace; alternatives GoTo Meeting, Google Meet, Microsoft, RingCentral
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Zoom Workplace; alternatives Google Meet, Microsoft, Zoho Meeting
- Mistral Small: Microsoft, Zoom Workplace; alternatives GoToMeeting, Google Meet
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Zoom Workplace; alternatives Dialpad, Google Meet, Microsoft, Zoho Meeting
- Llama 4 Maverick: RingCentral, Zoho Meeting
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Zoom Workplace; alternatives Google Meet, Microsoft, Zoho Meeting
- Kimi K2: Microsoft, Zoom Workplace; alternatives Google Meet
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Zoom Workplace; alternatives GoToMeeting, Google Meet, Microsoft, Zoho Meeting
- MiniMax M2.5: Zoom One; alternatives Dialpad, GoToMeeting, Google Meet, Zoho Meeting
- GPT-6 Luna: Zoom Workplace; alternatives Meet, Teams
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Zoom Workplace; alternatives Google Meet, Microsoft, RingCentral, Zoho Meeting

## Sources the answers cite

74 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- uk.pcmag.com: 37 answers, 44 citations
- getvoip.com: 33 answers, 33 citations
- jabra.com: 31 answers, 31 citations
- nutshell.com: 31 answers, 31 citations
- memeburn.com: 26 answers, 26 citations
- forbes.com: 23 answers, 24 citations
- vibe.us: 22 answers, 27 citations
- zoom.com: 22 answers, 24 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://getvoip.com/web-conferencing (32 answers)
- https://jabra.com/discover/hybrid-meeting-solutions/video-conferencing-platforms (31 answers)
- https://nutshell.com/blog/best-video-conferencing-software (31 answers)
- https://memeburn.com/best-video-conferencing-software (26 answers)
- https://uk.pcmag.com/cloud-services/9067/the-best-video-conferencing-software (26 answers)
- https://forbes.com/advisor/business/software/best-video-conferencing-software (22 answers)
- https://pcmag.com/picks/the-best-video-conferencing-software (19 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/video-conferencing-software-teams (18 answers)
- https://ringcentral.com/us/en/blog/video-conferencing-software (17 answers)
- https://uk.pcmag.com/video-conferencing-software/9067/the-best-video-conferencing-software (17 answers)

## Warned against

- Zoom Workplace: 16 of 73 labels negative. "Zoom - due to its indifferent video quality, expensive pricing compared to Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, and limitations on call length and user capacity in its free version." (Llama 4 Maverick, negative prompt)
- Cisco Webex: 11 of 22 labels negative. "Skip Cisco Webex unless you have a compelling reason and a bigger budget" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- Google Meet: 9 of 72 labels negative. "I wouldn't outright ban mainstream platforms like Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, or Webex; instead, I'd avoid using them in consumer mode or with default settings." (GPT-5.4 mini, negative prompt)
- Microsoft: 9 of 68 labels negative. "potentially overcomplicated for basic communications... may not be the most cost-effective option for small businesses" (Llama 4 Maverick, negative prompt)

## Record

- Method: https://it-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://it-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as IT AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, it-ai-index.com.